Being an introvert myself all my life, I can safely say that introverts and parties don’t go well together. Well, at least most of the times. However, it doesn’t mean that I’m not a party buff and that introverts hate partying, they actually love it. It’s just the idea of talking to people at the party that gets them down most of the time. Sometimes, people only like to party and not really mingle as much. I know it doesn’t make much sense to many people but that’s exactly what introverts have in mind about the party. Some of them would actually even like to mingle with people but that’s a short-term interest. That’s right, if I'm willing to talk to you and share ideas I would love that but at the end of the conversation, I will be exhausted! And to distress myself I would love some me time and that means I don’t want people around me, not even my best friend. I could sit all day doing my own thing and it still won’t bother me. I can actually go on and on about the perfect ideas chilling on the weekends and it won't even involve many people in most of the ideas. In fact, it would mostly be about me being on my own at the beach, at home, at a café, at a library, at the market, at the park and so on.
I may have sounded arrogant to you in the above description, but trust me, it doesn't in any way mean that introverts hate people. It's just that they need a distance every now and then because that’s how they function. They are actually some of the nicest people to hang out with when they're in their mode. They would open up and surprise you with their wild ideas, with their caring thoughts and their sense of compassion and gratitude.
However, back to my point, introverts and parties share a love-hate relationship. Here are some of the thoughts introverts have when invited to the parties!
Who is throwing it and who is attending it?
They’re not looking forward to bumping into strangers all evening and getting to know as many people as possible, like extroverts. They’re actually looking forward to hanging out with that one person they know and sticking by them(read: hiding behind them while they do the talking). In case it’s a very important event that they have to attend and none of the people they know are attending, it will have them thinking about it all week before the event and their plan would be to stand n a corner and wait for someone to start a conversation and then spend the whole evening talking to that person. Or simply find an activity to pass their time!
Time to smile and wave!
That’s right. That one person you spot at the party sitting at the bar and just smiling when accidentally getting eye contact with people, yes, that’s an introvert. That’s their successful plan, to smile, wave and nod a people they don’t really know. It’s their way of being nice to people and letting them know that they’re not rude, they’re just looking forward to having a good time!
Is it really important to go?
When invited, they will ask themselves a million questions and one question that they would keep repeating would be “Do I really have to go?!”. You will find them coming up with reasons to satisfy themselves for not attending the even and quietly convincing themselves that they don’t really need to go. Sometimes, they would be all for it but right at the time of leaving, they could change their mind and be like, “I can’t do this!” , change back to their pajamas and get to their bed. I don’t even remember how many times I have done that.
What would be the right time to go?
Among many strategies that they would have in their mind, one of them would be about going at the right time. However, the definition of right time for them would be pretty different from extroverts’ definition of the right time. Introverts would think about arriving at the time of the event and not before that so they don’t have to mingle with people, but not too late so that they don’t catch peoples attention. It’s a struggle, I tell you.
Should I become a part of the conversation, this sounds interesting!
A lot of the times, introverts would find conversations interesting but they would be unsure if they want to get themselves into it. They do want to, but they're not sure if they would be able to get out of it when they want to! So you will find them taking their time to jump in but once they do, they will surprise you with their knowledge and you would be surprised that if they know so much, why didn’t they open up earlier!
